Greek Food Festival in Modesto, Mesopotamian fest in Ceres

The pastries are mouthwatering, even if their names are a mouthful: paximadia, kourabiedes, melomakarona, koulourakia, diples and – probably the most familiar to non-Greeks – baklava.

All will be available for sale this weekend at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation’s 51st annual Greek Food Festival. And don’t worry about wrapping your tongue around the pronunciations; simply pointing and saying, “I’ll take that, please,” will suffice.

Tuesday, women of the church were busy making kourabiedes, walnut sugar cookies whose ingredients include a lot of butter and a little vanilla and brandy.

After half a century doing this, the church has it down, with a smooth production line of volunteers mixing ingredients, cutting and rolling dough, baking the cookies and finishing them off with a generous sprinkling of powdered sugar.

With an eye on the future, the women are passing along traditions and training future bakers, too. Helen Sirogiannis had grandchildren Jonah Fisher, 7, and his little sister Audrey, 4, rolling and carefully cutting dough with a butter knife.

At this weekend’s festival at the Tokay Avenue church, dessert really should wait until after dinner. That sits well with regular festivalgoers, who look forward to the traditional meal of marinated chicken, rice pilaf, peas, sesame bread, Greek salad and piece of baklava.

While food takes center stage – it’s right there in the festival name, after all – the event Saturday and Sunday also includes tours of the Byzantine-style church, with its colorful iconic frescoes, an agora (marketplace), and a coffeehouse with live Greek music and dancing.

Festival hours are noon to 9 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, with meal service ongoing. Takeout of the authentic Greek dinner is available. Tickets, which include the meal and admission to all festival venues, are $15 for adults in advance, $18 at the door, and $9 for children under 12. They are available online at www.goannunciation.org.

The church is at 313 Tokay Ave., off McHenry. Free shuttle service will be offered from the Panera Bread/Burlington Coat Factory parking lot. To learn more, call 209-522-7694.

Mesopotamian festival

Also this weekend, St. Matthew Catholic Church in Ceres is having its ninth annual Mesopotamian Food Festival.

Admission is free for the festival, which includes live music, art and cultural exhibit, children’s games, folkloric dances and a backgammon tournament.

A variety of Mediterranean food will be for sale, including beef and chicken kebabs, beef shawarma, dolma, bourek and more. Church member Ninef Peyour said food prices range from $3 to $10.

A variety of pastries – baklava, cakes, kada and more – also will be sold.

Festival hours are 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday and noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. The church is at 3005 Sixth St.

For more information, call 209-740-3450 or 209-485-8951 or go to http://stmatthewca.org/amff.html.

This story was originally published September 13, 2016 at 5:58 PM with the headline "Greek Food Festival in Modesto, Mesopotamian fest in Ceres."